Constantine II

Constantine II, (born June 2, 1940, Psikhikó, near Athens, Greece), king of Greece from 1964 to 1974.

After spending World War II in exile in South Africa, Constantine returned to Greece in 1946. When his father became King Paul I in 1947, Constantine became crown prince; he succeeded to the throne upon his father’s death on March 6, 1964. Fearing leftist infiltration of the army, he dismissed Premier Georgios Papandreou in July 1965 and appointed interim premiers until April 21, 1967, when a military coup forestalled the election he was planning for May of that year. He attempted a countercoup from northern Greece on Dec. 13, 1967, but had few sympathizers and almost immediately fled to Rome with his family. The military regime retained control of the monarchy and appointed a regent in Constantine’s place, granting the king a free return if he so desired.

On June 1, 1973, the military regime ruling Greece proclaimed a republic and abolished the Greek monarchy. A referendum on July 29, 1973, confirmed these actions. After the election of a civilian government in November 1974, another referendum on the monarchy was conducted on December 8. The monarchy was rejected, and Constantine, who had protested the vote of 1973, accepted the result.